Deals

Tops Markets, LLC may figure as a “major player” in the purchase of the Penn Traffic Co.’s stores, according to published reports. Syracuse, N.Y.-based Penn Traffic said last month it would sell off its assets in the wake of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the third time in a decade.

This week, the Office of the United States Trustee appointed the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) to the creditors committee in the bankruptcy of Syracuse, N.Y.-based grocer Penn Traffic.

Retail conglomerate Delhaize Group has completed, through its subsidiary Alfa-Beta Vassilopoulos, the purchase of 11 stores and a distribution center operated under the banner Koryfi.

In a layoff notice filed with the New York State Labor Department, the Penn Traffic Co. said it would close 53 P&C and Quality Markets locations and warehouses in the central and western part of the state, a move that will terminate 4,132 employees, according to a published report.

Wegmans Food Markets plans even more growth outside of its home state, according to a published report.

United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI), a Providence, R.I.-based national distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods, said yesterday that it plans to lease a 590,000-square-foot distribution center in Lancaster, Texas.

The U.S. Department of Commerce offered yet another clue that, with any luck, the panic and the recession will someday merely be bad memories.

Meijer, Inc. signed an agreement Friday to open a 192,000-square-foot store anchoring the new $90-million Shoppes at Gateway Park retail development, marking the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based superstore operator’s first Detroit location, according to a published report.